This year’s Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival offers innumerable opportunities to jazz in a large-ensemble context, from local groups like the New Horizons Big Band to international acts like Flat Earth Society. But there’s something about the intimacy of a solo piano concert that can entice the ear and enchant the soul like no other experience.

Gerald Clayton’s second Sunday night set at Hatch Recital Hall was a magnificent case in point. For the pianist’s third time at the festival, he delighted the rapt audience with a combination of soul rhythms and a harmonic vocabulary rooted in classical music. Indeed, on two separate occasions in the performance, one could hear the theme from the second movement of Beethoven’s Sonata Pathétique emerging from the ruminative and beautiful ambiance----including during a solo version of the original composition “Shadamanthem,” from Clayton’s latest album Life Forum.

In Clayton’s sound world, the complex chordal dissonances of blurry chord clusters found equal footing with Francophilian Impressionism and bluesy riffs seasoned with soul and Gospel music. His style is intricate yet economical, and he always gives the free-flowing rhythms space in which to breathe. His articulation on the keys is firm yet sensitive.

In short, the concert was a true auditory delight, and Clayton’s performance was the kind of revelation that reaffirms one’s love of musical discovery. While you can certainly hear the music of beloved artists with whom you are already familiar, the real magic of this festival is in hearing artists who are completely new to you. Clayton was one such artist for me, and the experience has vaulted to the top of my festival highlights so far.

Daniel J. Kushner is a freelance journalist who covers music for the Democrat & Chronicle. His writings have been featured in such publications as I Care If You Listen, The Huffington Post, Opera News, and NewMusicBox. He is also an opera librettist whose work includes "The Fox and the Pomegranate," co-written with composer Matt Frey. Daniel is an active musician as well, playing in the local bands 23 Psaegz and Bogs Visionary Orchestra.